People who think you are too slick or off topic will try to jellify your brains so that you start saying what you really think instead of what you planned to say.
If you remember the emotions comments from earlier, you will know straight away that this is happening.
Once you know it's happening, it might be a good idea to keep this knowledge to yourself. After all, you have real power if you know the game being played and you can lead the person playing it into thinking they're winning.
"Oh heck, I wish you hadn't asked me that. I shouldn't really talk about it, but ..." And then you stick a message on them. Easy? Not always. They can antagonise you in all sorts of ways: interrupting you, calling your authority into question, pretending they have a story and they're going to use it unless you have something to say, faking deadlines.
It's a game. They are playing by their rules. If you are aware of this, you are less likely to take it personally. While you might pretend to engage, and ham up your responses, inside you are in control.
You don't have to put up with the rude behaviour, even though it might be a journalist. A "do you want a story for your readers or not?" might slow them down. They can hardly say "not."
What if they say, "But you're a boss, you must know the answer."? So? Bosses can't know everything. Far better to retain your credibility with "I don't know, but I will find out" than to engage on a subject you know nothing about. Following the "don't know", you can move on to something you do know about. (A relevant message that you prepared earlier.)
If they have snippets of a story and they're trying to get you to fill the gaps, you can choose. Will it help or hurt you/your organisation? Is it true/not true? Depending on your answers you can be frank or turn the tables and ask them stuff. "What makes you think that?" "I can't really see where you're coming from." Or you could go for the confrontational, "publish that and you will look so foolish."
There's more, of course. But hopefully this gives you a glimpse into some of the games that are played and how you might turn them to your own benefit.
Later on I'll introduce some more tricks and counter-strategies.
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